THE BOURNE LEGACY Directed by Tony Gilroy Written by Tony and Dan Gilroy, based on the novels by Robert Ludlum Rated M, 135 minutes Cinemas everywhere

BOURNE is reborn without Bourne in the fourth instalment of the series that has reinvigorated the political spy thriller. Matt Damon appears only in a photo, and the original storyteller, Tony Gilroy, replaces British director Paul Greengrass.

Gilroy is the only one who has been there since the planning began 12 years ago. The series has always been driven by his ideas, rather than the original books by Robert Ludlum. A recent profile in The New Yorker said Gilroy didn't want to do the first movie. He was persuaded by director Doug Liman, with whom he soon fell out. A cheque for $3 million ($2.9 million) brought him back to write the second film, directed by Greengrass, who had scored kudos with Bloody Sunday. Another large cheque brought Gilroy back for the third film, but only on condition that he didn't have to talk to Greengrass. The Bourne Ultimatum was rewritten a number of times, and Gilroy says he has never seen it.

A spy by any other name ... Jeremy Renner is not Jason Bourne, but is stony, tough and resourceful. Photo: AP

In the meantime, Gilroy wrote and directed Michael Clayton and the romantic spy thriller Duplicity. His stocks have been rising for a decade, which means that The Bourne Legacy is both a square-up and a reboot.

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This is Tony Gilroy's film, not Jason Bourne's. But some are not happy. There is criticism of the character played by Jeremy Renner and the complicated plot. It's true that Legacy has less pace than the Greengrass films. The Bourne Ultimatum had nothing but pace. The unsteadycam, coupled with a world record number of edits, betrayed the original concept, which was always about character and the role of intelligence in the new century.

Gilroy brings a sense of reflection back to the series. He restrains the pace to allow for characterisation. There is plenty of action, but it's not the only thing. True, Renner does not play a version of Jason Bourne. That's why he has a different name. He is still a trained assassin, just not a product of Treadstone. Turns out there are other programs, run by agencies other than the CIA. Edward Norton plays a retired colonel who has to clean up the mess caused by the public exposure of Treadstone at the end of the last movie.

The script bolts on to the last film, starting before that episode is complete, a clever idea. It proceeds in multiple strands and time frames, a trademark Gilroy structure. It's complicated, but audiences demand that nowadays. Everyone thinks they have seen it all; Gilroy is an expert at challenging that complacency.

Aaron Cross (Renner) is alone in the Alaskan wilderness as the film opens, apparently doing penance for some indiscretion. He trains hard, fending off wolves and diving in icy rivers, but he depends on daily ''chems'', the small green and blue pills in an amulet around his neck. As the Treadstone scandal unfolds in New York, he is unaware his program is being shut down. A missile with his name on it gives a clear sign he is no longer wanted. He heads south to find out why. More urgently, he needs more ''chems'', which leads him to the door of scientist Dr Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz), the woman who took his blood over several years with the program.

This is strong casting. Weisz brings gravity and a palpable sense of fear. Marta is way out of her depth outside the lab. Renner is stony, tough, resourceful, but far from inhuman. That's the point where he echoes Damon. Cross wants to be free from his past, just as Bourne did. That's the emotional core of the series: a sense of regret, a desire to undo past crimes.

As the series progressed, the speed with which the CIA pursuers were able to find and follow Bourne became ludicrous. If electronic surveillance was this good, Osama bin Laden would have been dead long ago. The new movie returns some credibility to the timing. The pursuers battle to catch up and their methods are shown in detail, so we understand that good intelligence takes legwork. Much of the movie feels meticulously researched - in fact, scarily so. The Bourne films had become tame, because they were so far-fetched. The Bourne Legacy is quieter, slower, more sobering. The conspiracy is bigger and darker than we thought.